Carriage control of debit and credit



J y 13, 1937- 0. J. SUNDSTRAND CARRIAGE CONTROL OF DEBIT AND CREDIT SHIFT LEVERS Filed De;a 50, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet K [I] NM mw m VT. N Bi BA Vim W Uscar Jf Sun July 13, 1937.

O. J. SUNDSTRAND CARRIAGE CONTROL OF DEBIT AND CREDIT SHIFT LEVERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 30, 1933 IN VEN TOR. Oscarl Sundstrand.

A TTORNEYS.

Patented July 13, 1937 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE CARRIAGE CON EROL OF DEBIT AND CREDIT SHIFT LEVERS Oscar J. Sundstrand, Bridgeport, Conn., assignor to Underwood Elliott Fisher Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware The invention relates to accounting machines, and more particularly to carriage functions thereof.

In bookkeeping operations as carried out on accounting machines, it is customary to position the statement, the ledger sheet, or both, in the carriage of the machine, the carriage being ar ranged for reciprocatory advancing and retracting excursions of movement to carry the paper horizontally past the printing mechanism, means being provided to arrest the carriage at each columnar position required by the statement or ledger sheet. It is desirable to post old balances, credit and debit items, as well as new balances, in separate columns, control stops on the carriage being set to condition the machine to perform cycles of the desired character in the desired sequence as the carriage advances in step-by-step movements to successive columnar positions.

To expedite and simplify the posting of entries of different character, such for example as debit and credit entries, it is customary to post the debit items against all customers ledger accounts, after which the same sheets are successively inserted in the machine for the posting of credit amounts.

However, the carriage is commonly set for the performance of debit operations so that preparatory to commencing the posting of credit items, it is necessary to change the control set-up on the carriage. Such change or adjustment of the control stops may be effected, among other ways, by the means fully disclosed in my co-pending application Serial #581,800, filed December 18, 1931, or, as is shown in my application Serial No. 118,628 filed June 26, 1926. Briefly, the means shown in my first mentioned application for accomplishing a change in the set-up of carriage controls, in anticipation of a series of operations of a different character from that previously performed, comprises a key, depression of which serves to position a cam operable to disable the machine-controlling steps of the carriage in those columnar positions of the latter not required in the subsequent form of posting.

In the machine represented by said application Ser. No. 581,800, the control set up adjusting key (designated Credit key) is manually restored to normal, or debit posting position, at the conclusion of the operations involved in credit posting although it will be obvious that automatic restoration of the key would facilitate machine operations and insure against the possibility of the operator commencing a series of debit postings without having reconditioned the controls for such entries.

It is accordingly an object of the present invention to automatically restore the manually operated control adjusting means to normal position.

A more specific object of the invention is the provision of carriage actuated means to automatically restore a manually operated control adjusting lever to normal position, as an incident to the completion of an excursion of movement of the carriage.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a machine embodying the features of my in,- vention. Fig, 1 is a fragmental perspective view of the carriage-escapement.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary plan view of parts of the mechanism shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a fragmentary rear elevation.

Figure 4 is a View similar to that of Figure 1, but showing the mechanism thereof in a second position of adjustment.

I have herein shown the invention as embodied in a machine of the general character of that one disclosed in my application Serial No. 581,800, filed December 18, 1931, to which application reference may be had for an understanding of parts not fully disclosed herein. It will be understood however that the invention is not limited to machines of the type shown in my before mentioned application, but is equally applicable to other types of machines adapted for bookkeeping operations and in which, laterally movable paper carriages are employed.

The base of the machine is diagrammatically indicated at H], a part of the main frame at H, and a rear housing, similar in all respects to the corresponding part of my before mentioned application Serial No. 581,800, is shown at l2.

A plate l3 (hereinafter designated the control plate) is supported in any desirable manner by a paper carriage |3a for horizontal reciprocatory movement in overlying relation with respect to the housing l2.

A notched bar l4 extends longitudinally of the plate [3, its notches defining letter space increments in the direction of movement of the carriage. The rear edge of plate I3 is formed with letter space notches alined with those of the bar 14, the respective sets of notches defining a succession of letter spaced positions for the reception of control elements 15. In this instance it will suffice to say that the control elements I5 comprise elongated stop holders of U-shaped cross section, the side walls of the holders being adapted for engagement with the notches on the bar it, and those in the rear edge of the control plate, the space between the walls being utilized for the reception of stops, which latter may be either stationary or movable.

The forward end of each control element de fines a stop [6 which is normally effective, in conjunction with a pivotally mounted machine stop Ilia, to arrest movement of the carriage. Such a machine stop is fully disclosed in Figure 64 of my before-mentioned application Serial No. 581,800. It will be understood that a control element is positioned on the carriage at each point associated with a columnar position of the accounting work being handled, and at such other points as may be necessary to condition the machine for different types of operations such, for example, as totaling operations.

Referring particularly to Figure 3, the control element designated Db, may be taken to be located at a point corresponding to a columnar position in which debit postings are to be entered, the control element Cr, on the other hand, occupying a position identified with credit postings.

The control element shown in Figures 1 and 4 is provided with six stops, all of which are movable from a lower or effective position, as when the machine is employed in the posting of credit amounts, to an upper or ineffective position, as is the case when the machine is operated in the performance of a posting operation associated with debit entries.

The stops of the respective control elements overlie, and are alined with, a group of selectors l8, pivotally supported on a common axis l9 extending longitudinally, of the housing l2. The free ends of the several selectors are guided for vertical movement in spaced slots provided in an end wall 20 of the housing l2, the extent of such movement being indicated by the are defined between the full and dotted line positions of the selector shown in Figure 3.

The respective selectors are arranged to independently co-act with separate ones of a nest of vertically disposed push pins 2|. As is fully disclosed in my before-mentioned application, the several push pins 2| are individually connected with separate mechanisms of the machine for the purpose of conditioning the latter to perform its various functions.

Each selector I8 is provided with an offset section as indicated in Figure 3 for the accommodation of a bell-crank 22. A roller 23 is journaled in one arm of the bell-crank 22 in alignment with the path of movement of one or more of the stops of the control elements, the second arm of the bell-crank being connected to a spring the opposite end of which is anchored to the selector, so as to tend to hold the roller 23 in its normal position as shown in Figure 3. It will be apparent that if ,the selector is restrained frorn downward movement when a control stop contacts its associated roller, the bellcrank will yield to prevent injury to the parts of the machine.

Now referring specifically to the form of control element employed in connection with credit posting; as has been alluded to, it is desirable to disable carriage control of machine functions in those positions of the carriage identified with credit posting when the machine is employed for the entry of debit amounts. To this end the stops 24 of the credit control element shown in Figures 1 and 4 are fitted with laterally extending pins arranged to engage similarly sloping cam slots 25 formed in the body of a slide 26, one such slide being supported for longitudinal movement on one of the vertical side walls of each control element identified with a. credit position of the carriage. The slide 26 may be spring-urged to its rearmost position as shown in Figure 1, for the purpose of maintaining its stops 24 in operative position. It will be apparent that movement of the slide 26 from the position shown in Figure 1, to that shown in Figure 4, will serve to elevate the stops 24 out of co-acting position with respect to rollers 23 on the several selectors ll.

It is not necessary that the carriage be arrested in those columnar positions in which no entries are to be made, so that in addition to disabling the stops 24, the invention contemplates defeating coactive engagement between the machine stop and such of the columnar stops l6 as are identified with positions in which no entries are to be made. To the accomplishment of this purpose the forward end of slide 26 is formed with a normally extending camming surface 21, which surface is effective when the slide occupies its forward position (Figure 4), to depress the pivoted machine stop out of the path of the end l6 of the control element.

The slides 26 maybe caused to move forwardly to disable their associated stops and to permit the carriage to escape past their respective columnar positions by the following means. The laterally turned upper end or cam 23a of a slide 28 operatively supported in the rear wall of housing I2, is adapted to be manually elevated from the position shown in Figure 1, to the position shown in Figure 4, in which it is eflective to act upon a lug 29 formed integrally with and depending from the slide 28. Such manual adjustment of the part 28 may be accomplished by a debit and credit shift lever 30, pivoted at 3| to a plate rigid with the frame II. The lower end of lever 30 is operatively connected to a link 32, the rear end oi the link in turn being pivoted to an irregularly shaped crank 33. A bail 34, adapted to be rocked by the crank arm 33, is fitted with a. horizontally extending shaft 35, eccentrically fixed to one arm of the bail with respect to the axis of crank' 33. A fork 36 fixed to, or formed integrally with the lower end of slide 28 embraces the shaft 35.

From an examination of the drawings it will be apparent that when the debit and credit shift lever is moved forwardly from the position shown in Figure 1, the slide 23 will be elevated to position its cam 28a in the path of the movement of the lugs 29 of slides 26 to thus cause the carriage to skip all columnar positions identified with the posting of credit amounts. In addition, it will be understood from the foregoing description that the control stops identified with any of the credit control elements will be elevated out of eflective position. A spring actuated detent 31 is effective to yieldingly retain the debit and credit shift lever in either position of adjustment.

To insure against the possibility of commencing a second excursion of the carriage without having previously restored the debit and credit shift lever to its normal or debit position as shown in Figure 4, means under control of the laterally rnovable paper carriage is provided to automatically elevate the slide 28 after the latter has been manually lowered through movement of the debit and credit shift lever to credit position. Referring to Figures 1, 3 and 4, a slide 38 is operatively supported for vertical movement on the end wall 20 of housing l2 as by means of pin and slot connections 39. A laterally turned end of a forwardly extending lower arm 40 of slide 38, overlies a. pin 4| rigid with an arm of the'crank 33. The upper end of slide 38 underlies the right hand one of the selectors l8, as viewed in Figure 1. From an examination of Figures 1 and 4, it will be obvious that the diametrically opposed positions of the pins 35 and 4| which co-operate with the slides 28 and 38 respectively, will cause one or the other of the slides to be raised or lowered, as the case may be, dependent upon the movement which is imparted to the debit and credit shift lever. Thus, when the lever is moved to its credit position as shown in Figure 1, the slide 38 will be elevated simultaneously with the movement of slide 28 to its lowermost position.

In this respective positioning of the parts, a stop 24a, carried by any one of the control elements l5 to the right of the most advanced position associated with the entry of credit amounts, will be efiective to depress its aligned roller 23 and, consequently, the selector l8, which overlies the slide 38. Thus toward the end of its advancing excursion of movement the laterally movable paper carriage may be caused to rock the crank 33 in a counterclock-wise direction to cause the slide 28 to be elevated to a position to disable the controls identified with columnar pe sitions in which credit amounts are entered and to permit the carriage to idly skip such columnar positions on its next advancing excursion unless in the meantime the operator manually places the debit and credit shift lever 30 in the creditposting position shown in Figure 1.

It will be apparent that I have provided means under the controlof the laterally movable carriage effective to disable a manually enabled carriage control of the machine functions.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination of a laterally movable paper carriage, a horizontal plate extending longitudinally of, and rigidly secured to, the paper carriage, a plurality of control elements detach-' ably secured to the lower side of said plate in positions corresponding to debit and credit posting positions of said carriage, said elements extending transversely of the plate and supporting a plurality of downwardly extending stop lugs, said stop lugs being located at intervals along the lengths of the' control elements, the inner end of each control element constituting an escapement stop, manually conditioned means effective to withdraw the stops of one control element from effective position as an incident to movement of the carriage to one position, and means controlled automatically by the carriage in a subsequent position thereof to disable said withdrawing means.

2. A bookkeeping machine having, in combination, mechanisms certain of which are used in debit posting, and others of which are used in credit posting, a laterally movable paper carriage, stops on the paper carriage certain of which are arranged to control the mechanisms which are used in debit posting and others of which are arranged to control the mechanisms used in credit posting, manually enabled means for withdrawing one of said classes of stops from efiective posi-- tion as an incident to movement of the carriage, and carriage controlled means to disable said last mentioned means.

3. A bookkeeping machine having, in combination, a laterally movable paper carriage, stops on the paper carriage, one of which is arranged to control the mechanism used in debit posting and another of which is arranged to control the mechanism used in credit posting, means operable in the travel of the carriage to withdraw the stops used in one character of posting from efiective position, and carriage controlled means to disable said withdrawing means.

4. The combination of a laterally movable paper carriage, a plate extending longitudinally of the paper carriage, a control element, said element extending transversely of the plate, a plurality of stop lugs carried by said control element, a slide mounted on and extending longitudinally of said control element and operatively connected to one of said stop lugs to raise and lower the same, means for operating said slide as the carriage is moved and means for disabling said slide operating means.

5. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a laterally shiftable carriage, means carried by said carriage to control the lateral movement thereof, manually settable means to disable said last mentioned means as an incident to movement of the carriage, and a part actuated by said carriage to disable said manually settable means. a

6. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a laterally movable carriage, means effective to arrest the lateral movement of said carriage in a predetermined columnar position, manually conditioned means operable to disable said arresting means as an incident to movement of the carriage, and means actuated by said carriage in a relatively advanced position to disable the manually conditioned meansf 7. In an accounting machine, a laterally movable carriage, means carried by said carriage to control the movement thereof and to predetermine the character of a machine operation, manually conditioned means effective to disable said last mentioned means as an incident to movement of the carriage and carriage actuated means effective to disable said control disabling means.

8. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a paper carriage, arranged for advancing and retracting excursions of movement,

stops on said carriage and machine co-operative to control advancing movement of said carriage to effect columnar spacing, a manipulative element on said machine, a part arranged to be actuated by said manipulative element to prevent co-operative engagement between said stops in one columnar position of the carriage and means actuated by said carriage, in a subsequent columnar position thereof, to restore said manipulative element to normal position.

9. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a carriage arranged for advancing and retracting excursions of movement, stop means carried by said carriage to arrest advancing movement thereof in a predetermined position, manually conditioned means operable to disable said arresting means as an incident to movement of the carriage to said position, and means controlled by said carriage in a second position to disable said manual means.

10. A bookkeeping machine having, in combination, a paper carriage movable laterally to various columnar positions, control means located on the carriage in correspondence to said columnar positions, a member to disable one of the control means as an incident to movement of the carriage,

nmnually-operable means to place said member in one position, and means actuated by the carriage to subsequently place said member in another position.

11. A bookkeeping machine having, in combination, a paper carriage movable laterally to various columnar positions, a control means located on the carriage in correspondence to one of the columnar positions, a member to disable said control means as an incident to movement of the carriage, a part, said member and part being conncctcd to move together, a manually-operable element for moving said member and part into either of two positions, and means including a piece on the carriage in a position subsequent to that of said control means for operating said part to move said part and said member from one position to another.

12. A bookkeeping machine having, in combination, a machine frame, a paper carriage movable laterally on the machine frame to various columnar positions, a control means located on the carriage in correspondence to one of the columnar positions, a manually-settable member on the machine frame to disable said control means as an incident to movement of the carriage, a part on the machine frame, said member and part being connected to move together, a manuallyoperable element for moving said member and part into one of two positions, and means including a piece on the carriage for operating said part subsequently to its initial movement to place said part and said member in the other of their two positions.

13. A bookkeeping machine having, in combination, a paper carriage movable laterally to various columnar positions, a control means located on the carriage in correspondence to one of the columnar positions, means including a manually-settable member to disable said control means as an incident to movement of the carriage, and

means including an element on the carriage to 20 thereafter restore said member.

' OSCAR J. SUNDS'I'RAND. 

